White Night

One of the pre-dawn duties of the sun, when you live on the ocean, is to wake you up ..before it rises over the water! My brain hears its call every morn and I wake with a robotic nature to go see the event.......with rod in hand of course! It would be like leaving one of my arms home.....it always comes along. The weather was predicted to be cloudy, and it was. Being an organized kind of guy. which is a very good trait in this sport, my gear was all ready for grabbing and going. I always figured....why tie knots and swivels and blah blah blah , when the guy next to you is already fishing, in the prime time too! So I am a "carry and cast" kind of surf caster. Because of my proximity to the ocean/fishing grounds, I usually determine how im gonna dress and so on, by simply opening the front door and looking at the ocean and feeling its morning breath. Its breath felt oddly warm today......since it had been quite chilly lately and the water had not been warming very well. I like being comfortable when im out there. The waders seemed to be a bit heavy for this air....but the rocky beach called for them...I wore them.

I began the wader waddle over to my spot and the orange ness of the moment was pasteled by the cloudy skies. It was like walking into a peach! Open ocean has always amazed me by its moods. The very ocean that 2 days ago was too rough to fish in ...was now like a pond in the morning...with rising steam and all.

PEACH SKY'S

I faintly noticed some birds doing some sort of diving, but many times I swear my mind makes me see that. Every surfcaster has that happen. The last remains of night had been chased out by the peach sky's....I scanned the panorama for striper clues.

Barely a whisper of a south wind moved my hair. But it was enough to push a rolling bank of fog down the beach .....and right towards me. It was fun watching it....So very dense and soft at the same time. I Laughed, picturing the Pillsbury dough boy rolling down Humarock beach....But that's how it looked,UNTIL IT REACHED ME!...At that point all I thought of was the sky on 9/11.......so thick with smoke and clouds that the day became night.........WHITE NIGHT! I had never ,ever, been in a fog this thick..not inland....up on mountain....out in a boat..no where...not this thick!!! Everything became everything..... and none of it was different! I simply stood still, and thought about it..........its my nature to do that.

South winds often bring warm, moist air into a region, possibly ending a cold outbreak. As the warm, moist air flows over much water, dense fog often forms. Warm, moist air is cooled from below as it flows over a colder surface. If the air is near saturation, moisture will condense out of the cooled air and form fog. Which was exactly the case here and with the light winds, the fog near the beach and water became thick and reduced visibilities to zero. This is called advection fog

The thickest advection fog usually forms during nights or early mornings, with light winds. The reason for this is that humid air near the ground isn't mixed with drier air above. Usually, the fog burns off during the day, but it can last for many days if it is thick enough to block out the sun's light. The upcoming event with the fog is what gave us those peach skies . "Advection" refers to horizontal air movements, such as those that bring warm, moist air into a region. Advection fog is very common during winter warm ups and early spring thaws and can occur almost anywhere . this is the dense fog that can wreak havoc on commuters and travelers and often causes major delays at airports. IT was only wreaking havoc with my eyes this morning. It was literally like WHITE NIGHT. I fish at night and know my range of vision under scant light conditions. At this point in this advection fog .....my limitations were as severe as in the black of night......WHITE NIGHT!

I know any outdoors man realizes that when one or more senses are impaired...the others seem to become enhanced. Well I sure as hell couldn't see a thing. so maybe a sip of coffee would taste extraaaa good! The truth was that while I composed my old science lessons on fog ....that I began to HEAR chop in the water. Noise...splashing....movement...I began to hear , birds! I did not need to hear any more. I knew what I heard. I'm a surf caster. I reached for my plug bag.

Normally I wouldn't use a surface plug unless it were light out.......but I guess it was light out ...in a way! It was so foggy...........I had to bend way over to find where I put the bag...that's no kidden! I found myself holding the snap swivel right up next to my eyes. as if it were dark out. Simply an surreal event. I had to listen for more splashing cuz I couldn't see it. I could hear birds but no splashing.

Staring at the ground sand so I would know when I hit the waters edge...I crept up to knee depth and let a 10 ft stick do its job. I heard the plug splash....but no other ones. Poppers are fun to work. They seem to be a really popular one with new timers because the action is simple and varied is good. so even if the angler cant cup the water with every tug , for his splash.......its ok ..cuz it just adds to the distressed look of the plug. I also had a bait rod out and I kept glancing over at it......hoping to detect any action in this pea soup.

There was know doubt in my mind that if I persisted in this white night. and kept casting. I would lure the school to me and the fun would begin. Maybe some doubt is good at times....they never struck the plug. .....But once again...senses were enhanced by the void the fog left on my vision. I heard the van stall whining from the waters edge just before my umpteenth cast.

I like to strike bluefish very quickly. Their fearless feeding tactics will cause them to ingest every thing if left to run with it. This bluefish's intention was to visit Scotland...cuz it was swimming in that direction......quickly. No need to set the hook....just hold on.......ol chopper was well pierced. He ran and jumped and splashed. well it sounded that way because I still could not see a dam thing in this fog.

Fifteen minutes later.....I could definitely hear him splashing in the foam.....just to my left. When I got to the point where I could finally see this bull. and it was a bull!!!....I had to pull a tad harder to drag him onto the sand in these wave less conditions. He had swallowed the spiked rods bait...that extra pull allowed HIM a good hard bite on the 50 lb mono leader..and he was gone!

No more birds.......no more casts........no more noise....just the soft southerly breath of morning......keeping the white night in place for the time being. It was as if it was the fish and I and no one will ever know we met.............until now.!!

Some of the reasons why I find this to be perhaps the best all around artificial from shore is because you can fish it day or night, with a teaser or without, preferably slow but can be retrieved any speed you wish.